


The Purest Blue

by FoxyDangerfluff (Argent_Vulpine)



Series: A Bit of Hoodoo Magic [2]
Category: Changeling (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coffee Shop, F/M, Hoodoo, Magic, Post Game, Witchcraft, Wizard, bottle trees, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 08:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17998595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argent_Vulpine/pseuds/FoxyDangerfluff





	The Purest Blue

Nora was a little shocked, to say the least, when she saw Corvin hovering in front of the new café, his lips pursed in thought as he examined some decorative pieces that had been recently added. At least, she thought they’d been, as she didn’t recall having seen them before. They were interesting, trees of all sorts - real, fake, twisted metal - dotting the wide sidewalk around Hoodoo Café. Each one had glass bottles of all colors - though blue seemed the most dominant - stuck to the ends of their leafless branches.

She frowned, noting an inky black substance swirling inside them. That seemed to be Corvin’s focus, whatever it was; it was giving her chills. “Uh… Cor?” she asked. He jerked backward, nearly stumbling off the curb, and looked over at her sheepishly. “Is something wrong? What _is_ that stuff?”

He blinked at her, bright green eyes more shocked than she’d seen him in a while. “You can see it?” She nodded. “Ah, well… it’s miasma. Negative energy?” he added when she looked confused. “But… there’s something going on with it…”

As the morning sun touched the bottles, the inky substance began to swirl and… change. It wasn’t so much that it was evaporating as it was simply… dissipating entirely. “Huh…” she finally said, more than a little confused. “Ah, well… I’m going inside. Maybe you should… talk to the owner?”

Corvin considered this and the finally nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Thanks, Nora!” he exclaimed, giving her a quick hug before he bounded into the café… and narrowly avoided running headlong into the door.

She wasn’t too far behind - better to avoid Corvin on the move - and spotted Marc almost immediately on entering. Judging from the scowl he was leveling at Corvin, he’d seen the hug. She managed - barely - to not roll her eyes as she went to join him, settling into the seat that was clearly hers; he’d already set a plate down, and there was a steaming mug of coffee waiting for her.

“What was that about?” he asked, still glaring somewhat at the young Wizard.

“There’s some weird gunk in the bottles on those… tree things. I only suggested he talk to the owner about it.” Corvin was just… being Corvin, near as she could tell.

He tripped over a stool at the front counter, his profuse apologies carrying all the way back to them as he conversed with the Witch at the register. The plum in her hair was gone; in its place was a streak of green so vibrant it almost seemed to be alive. Nora was frowning slightly, looking at the streak of color; did the Witch dye it like a normal human? Or did she use magic?

Marc cleared his throat, gaining her attention. When she turned to look at him, he had one eyebrow raised, accompanied by an extremely unamused frown.

“What?” When he remained silent, she rolled her eyes. “It’s just… look at her hair. I was wondering how she got such an intense color. And it was a different color entirely the other day.”

He did turn to look at that, and his scowl softened somewhat. “Of course you’d notice something like...that...” he finally sighed.

Was he… jealous? Again? She bit back a giggle and reached out to grab his hand, lacing their fingers together and giving him a gentle squeeze. While she found the Witch fascinating, and she considered Corvin something of a friend, she had no interest in anyone else romantically. Marc had to know that, she was certain of it… but it didn’t hurt to remind him every now and then.

He huffed out another sigh, his lips curving just slightly into a smile. His free hand reached up, gently tugging at one of her curls. “I took the liberty of ordering more beignets for you,” he finally said, electing to change the subject entirely.

“Just me? What about William?”

“William had to cancel this morning. Something he needed to do with Guess, I believe. However, he  will be joining us at the club room this afternoon.”

The beignets arrived, followed closely by Corvin, who swiped one off her plate. Nora leveled a glare at him, but he seemed to not notice and instead took one of the free seats, completely ignoring the scowl evident on Marc’s face. Well, she couldn’t really blame him on that front, at least; Corvin _was_ intruding.

The blonde Wizard legitimately didn’t seem to notice, and instead he leaned forward excitedly, though he managed to keep his voice down - a credit to what little sense he had, if nothing else. “That Marie is a lovely person. She explained that where she’s from in New Orleans, they use those bottle trees to catch what she calls ‘bad juju’, which I guess is a regional name for miasma? Anyway, it’s hoodoo Witchcraft, she said, to capture evil spirits and bad juju. They get positioned to catch the morning sun, because apparently it helps to purify the miasma, though I’m not sure how. Some kind of magic I’m not familiar with.”

“Corvin.” He’d stolen another beignet and looked up guiltily at his name. “…you really need to get your own table. And your own food.”

He glanced between Nora and Marc, his eyes widening slightly as he seemed to realize what was going on. From what she’d been able to figure out, he didn’t seem to feel too bothered when interrupting people, but Marc’s level stare was clearly enough for him to stand and move to a new table.

The Witch was already bringing out an order of the doughnut-like sweets, which she set in front of Corvin as soon as he was settled at his own table.

Not that it did any good. He was close enough that he still occasionally leaned back in his chair – falling out of it twice - to chatter at Nora and Marc, telling her about miasma and its effects, how difficult it could be to clear out, how Pine Hollow gathered it and trapped so much of it because there was nowhere for it to go.

At one point she interrupted, asking if he didn’t have to work at his own café, and what was he doing eating at technically a rival restaurant? He’d said it didn’t really matter, they took care of different things on the _other_ side, so they weren’t _really_ rivals.

To their great relief, he did leave them when they finally headed out of the café and toward Marc’s car. Nora wasn’t sure how much more of him she could handle, and Marc had looked about two comments away from just murdering him.

The pair stopped off at Nora’s house long enough for her to grab some books she wanted to return to the library, and then they were off again, headed to the club room to meet up with William. While she was at it, she wanted to see if there were any books on hoodoo - there likely were - that she could read. The bottle trees had sparked an interest, and she was curious if there were any other strange charms or… whatever they might be considered… that Marie might be using, as well.

It was a bit of a shock when they arrived at the fourth floor to find a small crowd around the door to the club room. “Uh… what’s going on here?” she asked, startling the group. Elliot was the first to react, a flush tingeing his cheeks, though Corvin - why was he here? - and Danny also seemed a bit sheepish. “We just… didn’t want to disturb him…” Danny was the first to speak, stepping out of the way so that Nora could step into the club room.

She was followed by Marc, and the pair stood for a moment, just… staring at the sofa. More specifically at William, who was dozing on the sofa, a book in his lap, open and threatening to slip to the floor. She glanced sidelong at Marc, a silent question in her eyes, and he simply… shrugged and moved to the wingback chairs, settling into one and gesturing for her to do the same.

The others must have grown impatient, because they crept into the room. Or… they tried. Danny and Elliot had no trouble slipping in without making a fuss, finding themselves a spot out of the way to simply observe.

Corvin, on the other hand… he tripped over his own feet, stumbled forward, slammed his leg against the table beside the sofa, and generally made such a ruckus that Nora winced in a mix of sympathy and anticipation. Thankfully William only stirred briefly, but didn’t seem to wake. She caught Corvin’s eye and raised a finger to her lips, earning a sheepish grin from him.

Nora had learned quickly that William didn’t sleep very well, due to his chorus - as his collection of personal haunts was called - or simply because Drifters or other things required his attention. It was difficult to be such a powerful Esper, apparently. The club room was spelled against those things, so it was unsurprising that he’d fallen asleep, likely waiting for Marc and herself to join him.

The Wizard very carefully moved away from the table… and immediately tripped again, falling on his rear with such a loud thump that nearly everyone winced.

It was enough to rouse William, who blinked blearily awake and stared around the room, eyes widening slightly as he realized he had an audience. “Oh… uh… good morning?” he asked, flushing.

The tension snapped, and it was business as usual from that point on, with Marc and Nora drawing William into conversation. After all, he was the reason they’d come to the club room in the first place, and they were the only ones who could (or were allowed to) help Nora learn to shield her mind.


End file.
